Momentary Sanity in the Legal System

It was like a ray of sunshine to see a Federal Judge take an action that actually made some sense. Net dresses made of hen’s teeth are far more common.

In business since 1998, Bernard von NotHaus, (Affectionately nicknamed Nuthouse by Barb) attempted to create a gold-, silver- and copper-based currency to demonstrate the destruction of the American dollar since the Federal Reserve sprung to life in 1913. With the exception of wartime, we had little inflation from the foundation of the United States in 1793 until passage of the Federal Reserve act. Since 1913, the dollar has lost 98% of its value. So he gets charged with counterfeiting.

In 2007 the government raided von NotHaus and seized millions of dollars in gold and silver. It didn’t belong to von NotHaus, it belonged to the people he convinced to store it with him. In 2011 the case went to trial. Von NotHaus lost the case and was convicted of counterfeiting.

That by itself is an interesting finding. By making fake currency out of silver, gold and copper, according to the government he was defrauding Americans by giving them the choice between money with value and slugs. His money contained real value and US currency is basically a system based on worthless slugs.

The prosecutor went so far as to distort English to the point of absurdity by describing the crime as one of “a unique form of domestic terrorism,” continuing to say, “While these forms of anti-government activities do not involve violence, they are every bit as insidious and represent a clear and present danger to the economic stability of this country"

In the United States we accept an institution that removed 98% of the value of savings over a 100-year period in order to enrich a tiny 1% of the population. We have a country busy destroying the middle-class, the very foundation of a prosperous and healthy country. Yet someone coming up with a currency based on honest money is called a criminal. Is this the last act of a farce, the crumbling of a fake empire?

It wasn’t very long ago that the sexual preferences of U.S. Attorney Anne Tompkins were still a criminal act. I don’t care what she does behind her bedroom door or with whom she does it. But the government felt it appropriate to criminalize personal preferences. Now she wants to distort not only English by her choice of words but also to make sure Americans do not have a legal right to a currency of their own choice. Slugs are real, gold and silver aren’t. Go figure.

Not all victories are real victories. In 279 BC, King Pyrrhus defeated the Roman army at the Battle of Asculum. He replied, “One more such victory would utterly undo him.” His actions defined a Pyrrhic victory.

U.S Attorney Tompkins should have gotten a sense of what she had really accomplished when Federal Judge Richard Voorhees allowed von NotHaus free on a
tiny bail. It was within the right of the judge to stick NotHaus in jail while he appealed his conviction but NotHaus was free to travel and live without shackles.

Von NotHaus appealed his conviction and lost. That was sort of a waste of even fake money; no one defeats the power of the federal government in an appeal of a criminal conviction. If the government can’t figure out that a chokehold is murder, how could they figure out that gold and silver can’t be a counterfeit of slugs? That’s like saying fresh organic vegetables aren’t food but feces is.

Judge Voorhees had the final say when he sentenced NotHaus this week. Our legal system has been so totally warped out of shape since the passage of the Harrison Tax Act 100 years ago, the first drug prohibition law, that police have become judge, jury and executioners. The prosecutor now determines the sentence and judges collect a lifetime paycheck for staying awake during a trial.

U.S Attorney Tompkins wanted to send a clear and convincing signal to all Americans who believe gold and silver are money. She demanded NotHaus be sentenced to a 14 to 17 year period. For a 70 year-old, that’s pretty much a death sentence. How dare he create real money or give Americans a choice between silver and slugs? As it turns out, Judge Voorhees also wanted to send a clear and convincing signal to Ms Tompkins.

Judge Voorhees slapped NotHaus with a six-month sentence of home detention followed by three years of probation. That’s about as serious a sentence as police getting paid vacation for 6 months after they murder someone. It was literally a ray of sunshine into the darkness of the cesspool America has become.

Lost in the clutter of disinformation put out by the prosecutor was the fact that the $7 million dollars in silver, copper, gold and platinum the government seized and intends to keep, didn’t belong to NotHaus. It belonged to Americans who believed fiat currency has no real value and gold does. For that, they have to suffer.

It’s end of empire. Rome had their Nero and Caligula. The US has Bush, Cheney, Palin, McCain, Boehner, Pelosi and Obama. The government thinks slugs are real, gold is counterfeit and NotHaus is a criminal.

We have life in a blender. It’s pretty obvious who the real criminals are. We know what is real, and what is counterfeit. So does Judge Voorhees.